The technical team has ensured that the painful “mourning” for both the mother and the entire group followed the usual process of this species in nature.
On April 17, a baby chimpanzee was born in public view in the reproductive group of the subspecies. Pan troglodytes verus who lives in BIOPARC Valencia. For parents, Moreno and Natalia, it was his pfirst descendant and first birth within the group and from the beginning it has been possible to observe an exemplary and totally natural behavior so that nothing seemed to foreshadow what would happen in the early hours of April 27. That day, early in the morning, the caregivers noticed an abnormal immobility in the calf that made them suspect the worst and, immediately, they kept the mother and calf under observation until they finally confirmed her death.
Since then, the technical team has favored the habitual behavior of chimpanzees continued its course, so it was decided not to remove the body to allow the mother and the group to be aware of the situation, accept the loss and “grieve.” As has been the case, this process can last several days, in which this unique species shows a whole repertoire of actions that demonstrate its pain and high level of perception of the death of an individual in its "family." Finally, late this morning the necropsy was performed to confirm that there was no malformation and only the poor development of the calf was observed, which is related to the high percentage of perinatal deaths among chimpanzees.
Born in public view and only 10 days old, her death was due to natural causes.
For the entire park team, these are very sad days. and especially the caregivers are very affected, although aware of the good news that confirming the fertility of the group implies. BIOPARC Valencia is home to one of the reproductive groups of this subspecies in serious danger of extinction, so it is partly “in its hands” to guarantee the viability and genetic diversity of these chimpanzees.
The group residing in BIOPARC is made up of Moreno, a 30-year-old male who was transferred from Parco Natura Viva in Bussolengo (Italy) and five females: Natalia, 15 years old, and her two sisters Eva and Noelia, 23 and 11 years old respectively, from from BIOPARC Fuengirola, and Malin, 28 years old, and Py, 15 years old, who arrived from Boras Djurpark (Sweden).
